Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Title: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing  Series: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing #1 Written by: Hank Green Published: September 25, 2018 by Dutton (Penguin Group) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: In his much-anticipated debut novel, Hank Green—co-creator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow—spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined.  The Carls just appeared.  Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship—like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor—April and her friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world—from Beijing to Buenos Aires—and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.  Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.  Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring for the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. The beginning of an exciting fiction career, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a bold and insightful novel of now.

Not really what I was expecting but an enjoyable read. I enjoy Hank Green’s YouTube videos and I find him a thoughtful and intelligent person so I was interested to read a book he wrote. It turned out to be a compelling story.

I listened to the audiobook and it was the perfect format. This is one of those books with such a distinct voice that you can fall into the character’s world and personality while you are listening to the audio. The narrator did a great job with developing April May and bringing here to life.

This book also had some really interesting themes that are incredibly topical, but it told them through an interesting lens. Part of this book is about internet fame and how a person can get so wrapped up in their persona and portraying something to and for their audience. I really enjoyed this theme and I wish the book had went into a little more depth on the concept, allowing for more character growth throughout the story. It was one of the more interesting and complex parts of the book for me, but it was almost just taken at face value and I wish it went deeper.

But instead of delving deeper into this theme, instead it explored the fear and fervor that people can whip others into on the internet. It became as much about 24 hour news cycle, political pundits and how they can create this divide amongst people who see the people who disagree with them as the enemy. But again, Hank did this in a subtle way through the lens of these robots. The “Carls” could be an allegory for any number of current political events because of the way they made people respond was so honest and realistic that the social commentary was evident and interesting.

Speaking of the Carls, that was the aspect of the story I wasn’t really expecting. This book was much of a science fiction story than I was expecting. It had definite Ready Player One vibes not only because of it’s discussion of the online world. No, there was also the mystery and race to reveal the secrets of the dream that felt very reminiscent of that book. And while I really enjoyed this aspect of the story as well, I found it kind of lacking. I think however that was because I thought this was a stand-alone. I wanted answers to my questions and this book didn’t give those to me. But there is a sequel coming so hopefully I will get some answers then.

All in all this was an engaging and compulsively readable book. I flew through it and really enjoyed not only the science fiction plot but the complex themes about the internet and society. It wasn’t perfect but it was an engaging debut.

I give An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green 8 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy/Borrow. I really enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend you pick this up from the library if you enjoy Hank Green or are looking for a fast and unique read.

Have you read An Absolutely Remarkable Thing? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Review: The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry

Title: The Passion of Dolssa Written by: Julie Berry Published: April 12, 2016 by Viking Books for Young Readers (Penguin Group) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: Dolssa is a young gentlewoman with uncanny gifts, on the run from an obsessed friar determined to burn her as a heretic for the passion she refuses to tame.  Botille is a wily and charismatic peasant, a matchmaker running a tavern with her two sisters in a tiny seaside town.  The year is 1241; the place, Provensa, what we now call Provence, France—a land still reeling from the bloody crusades waged there by the Catholic Church and its northern French armies.  When the matchmaker finds the mystic near death by a riverside, Botille takes Dolssa in and discovers the girl’s extraordinary healing power. But as the vengeful Friar Lucien hunts down his heretic, the two girls find themselves putting an entire village at the mercy of murderers.

The Passion of Dolssa has been on my list since before it came out. I read a lot of historical fiction and I am looking for books that have unique settings and stories and this absolutely fit the build. I tried to read it a few times but after those false starts I was nervous about reading it this month. But my themes is historical France so I took the time and I am glad that I did. It is not my typical read but very interesting.

This book is beautifully written. I listened to the audiobook and I am surprised by how much it pulled me in. The writing had the kind of prose that translates so well to the audio format. I do think it did have a bit of a slow start. As I said before, I tried reading it a few times and it took me until now until I finally finished it. I think it is just one of those slower books that you have to take your time with. It did built to an exciting conclusion that had me so concerned about what was going to happen, it just took it's time to hook me. Although when it did, it didn't let me go.

One of the things that surprised me most about this book is how it combined history and religion. I usually don't read a lot of books with religious content, although it is something I enjoy in high fantasy. But I feel like this book did a really good job of handling the religion. This was a period of time with a lot of religious unrest, especially with the Catholic Church, between the Crusades and the Inquisition. This book did not shy away from these more unsavory activities of the church, but it also didn't portray the church as all bad. There was a lot of grey areas when it came to not only organized religion itself but the people who practiced it. I appreciated that from both a narrative perspective and real life perspective. It made you think and that is all you can really ask for with any book, especially a historical fiction novel.

However, I would have appreciated this book to have established the physical setting. This is really important to me in historical fiction. This is one of those books where it felt like it could have happened anywhere. It could have been any place in Medieval Europe. This might not be that be an issue for many readers but for me I was missing something. I have been to Provence, it's a beautiful place and has a rich history especially in reference to religion and the Catholic Church. But for me the setting didn't really come alive and I had hoped it would.

One thing I did love however is the characters. The author did a really good job in making the reader connect with the characters, especially the women. While Dolssa is the titular character, it is Botille who is really the one who moves the plot along. In the beginning I thought I would be more interested in Dolssa's perspectives but very quickly I found that I enjoyed Botille. She is kind and caring, but also smart and resourceful. She's one of those women who is slightly ahead of her time and therefore is in a kind of precarious position. All of this made me like her and root for her. Dolssa is the character who is easy to root for, however. She is the one who is taken advantage of by society because of her position as a woman. We are not in her head as much as I expected but the times we did gave her a lot of depth. Being in Lucien's head also gave his character depth. He wasn't a totally terrible antagonist which can often happen in these kinds of stories. Now don't get me wrong, he was vile and loathsome but he felt more like of those people who is completely misguided in that he thinks he is in the right, and that made him a much more engaging character.

All in all, The Passion of Dolssa was a complex and engaging read that made me think. It's a good historical fiction novel that handled religion in a really great way and complex characters that I connected with more than I would expect.

I give The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry 8 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Borrow. If you haven't read this book and you are looking for a unique historical fiction novel then check this book out. What I am curious about is what people who are more religious think about it.

Have you read The Passion of Dolssa? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!